Today I want to focus on how The God Family is constantly at work in your life. As you observe and consider Their characteristics, learn to use them as your guide for loving and caring for others with the gifts, knowledge and experience that make you unique. As we proceed in the days and weeks ahead, names of the Members of The God Family will be associated with particular attributes and traits. These traits are being presented as general overviews and can be applied to the area most applicable to the work of the individual personage of the Trinity.

To facilitate the understanding of principles originating in different times, languages, and cultures, I have cross-examined several sources, including Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, and Wilson’s Old Testament Word Studies. I will be using these tools to help communicate the essence of Deity to hopefully illuminate for you the significance of each attribute of The God Family.

Two Hebrew words are assigned as the Lord’s personal name: YHWH, meaning “the eternal, existing One,” and Hayah (the root or source from which YHWH is derived), meaning “to be” or the phrase “I am who I am” which we find in Exodus 3:14. In my discussion of Deity’s attributes, I will use the descriptive root word (Hayah) of God’s personal name, “YHWH,” because it communicates the greater essence of the Godhead. In modern literature, Jehovah is used. However, Jehovah is not really a Hebrew word. Perhaps the Jews refused to pronounce Elohim’s personal Name because of the problem of assigning a single name to multiple ‘people.’ So, when we talk about verses like Exodus 15:26 and use the phrase, “Hayah Rapha” it does not only mean that God is just a Healer. It means, “I (the eternal existing one) am the one who is mending or will mend and heal you into a stronger person than you were before you were wounded.”

Now that you have a sense of what is really being said, you can understand the violent reaction of the Pharisees and Saducees when Christ said “I am” the Bread of life, (John 6:35) the Light of the world, (John 8:12) the Resurrection and the Life. “He who believes in Me, though he may die, yet he shall live.” (John 11:25)  Applying what we have just discussed, Jesus did not merely say “I am”; He used “Hayah,” the root word of YHWH. So, as we consider the attributes of each Member of The God Family, remember that Elohim (three individuals) are communicating “Hayah Rapha”—We are your Healers, not just a healer.

Now, it is time to meet each Individual in The God Family. In meeting Them, my prayer is that you will begin to see how your relationship with each Person will be different, yet unified in purpose. Just as your bond is different with your father, mother, sister and brother, your connection to each Member of The God Family will be unique and fulfilling, affecting every aspect of your spiritual development.

Of course, you may have learned through personal experience that maintaining friendship and harmony within your earthly family ranks demands work and a commitment which extends beyond blood ties. You and I both know families who are torn apart because of dissention, jealousy, and greed within their ranks. Many murders are committed within the family structure. Being family does not guarantee loving and caring relationships, even though Deity instructs us not to “nurse hatred in your heart for any of your relatives.” (Leviticus 19:17)

Those of you who maintain strong family ties have them because you continue to love and pursue those relationships. I work diligently to ensure that my wife and children continue to have open channels of communication with me and, often, among each other. After all, they are my primary mission field. Your spiritual Family requires no less effort.

Reconsider your Divine Family Members in light of your commitment to Christ. Commit to having an individual friendship with each Member of The God Family. You will only gain that friendship through a relationship of accountimacy. Begin by hanging out with each Individual—intentionally. Without these purposeful times, you will not be able to hear Diety say to you, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” They will only speak those words to intimate friends, not Their acquaintances. Your desire should not be to seek Their hands (what They will do for you) but Their faces (the relationship between each of Them and you). Then, Deity will write about you in the Book of Life those words that He wrote in Scripture about Moses: “The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend.”

I want to leave you with a thought. Think about this, dwell on it and see if it makes a difference:

Faith is not a matter of “what,” it is a matter of who.” It is one person trusting another person. Faith allows us to hear God with our spirit, accept what He offers with our mind, and respond to Him with our bodies. Faith is the ultimate expression of unity.

Love Dad